I talked to Steve on the phone about this. He said playing headphones without speakers connected will sound different. Not necessarily worse or better, but different. The results will depend on the headphones and personal taste - I happen to think the LCD2's are much better when speakers are connected. He also said you can bridge the speaker connectors with a resistor to get the same results as if speakers are connected. Use 4, 8, 10 ohm resistor or just experiment to get the result you want. This is interesting because with different ohm resistors you could get totally different sounds out of the headphones.

I also asked about a speaker cutoff switch for the Taboo. He can do it, but at present he doesn't attempt to make it as if the speakers are connected when flipping the switch. It would be as if you disconnected the speakers. But, he could put a resistor in there when building the switch if one wanted. Also, a down side of installing a speaker/headphone switch in the Taboo is that with it installed there is no way to play the speakers and headphones at the same time. My experience is that having speakers on at low level when using phones is nice. For one, it adds a bit of three dimensionallity to the listenning experience because of the body's ability to feel the sound waves, even if they are low. But also it makes it so when you take off the phones it isn't like shutting off the music completely, so you can keep tracking it.

As I understand it, yes, a cheap resistor connecting + and i is what you want. Simulates connected speakers. I don't know - I wonder - if using a resistor of same ohm as the speakers are rated will make headphones sound same as when speakers are plugged in. Note that I always just keep the speakers connected when listenning to headphones, so I don't have first hand experience with this.

My TABOO came back from DECWARE with the speaker cutoff switch, though I tried to stop it from being installed. It works fine. You can hear the audio either through the speakers or the headphone jack, not both. My unit works fine with Sennheiser 580's. I don't know what the big deal is about.

Has the resistor situation been resolved? Have any of your purchased resistors for your Taboos? If so, where did you get them and what resistance works best? I am thinking of getting a Taboo to use with my LCD-3s. Any information would be appreciated.

I use headphones without speakers attached. In my rig, I have found the Decware resistors push the soundstage back several rows. With some tube combinations this is advantageous, with others not so much. I haven't found a tube combo I am satisfied with as yet for my CSP2+/Taboo so my final opinion on the resistors is pending. They are definitely a useful tuning tool.

I usually listen to headphones with the speakers connected. But when I do disconnect the speakers, I like a 7.5 ohm resistor best. This is with LCD-3s. I tried resistors from 10 ohm to 3 ohm and for me 7.5 is the sweet spot. I can't tolerate no resistor at all. I haven't found personally that tube combination has much of an affect on this.